Attribution system and method for moving out-of-home advertising

ABSTRACT

A method for attribution determination in a system including a plurality of vehicles having exteriors configured to convey messaging to occupants of other vehicles. Communication signals including information relating to time-stamped locations of the vehicles are received. Time-stamped location data including a plurality of the time-stamped locations is provided to a mobile location data aggregator. Anonymized identifiers associated with mobile device users within exposure zones associated with the time-stamped locations are received from the mobile location data aggregator. A control set of anonymized identifiers associated with users within a geo-fenced area but not within the exposure zones is also received. A record of conversion events is compiled. The conversion events include a first set of conversion events performed by the exposed audience and a second set of conversion events performed by the control audience. An attribution metric is determined based upon the first and second sets of conversion events.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 63/024,350, entitled ATTRIBUTION SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR MOVING OUT-OF-HOME ADVERTISING, filed on May 13, 2020, andU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/024,361, entitled SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR RETARGETING IN A VEHICULAR ADVERTISING SYSTEM, filed on May13, 2020, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by referencein their entirety for all purposes.

This application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 10,373,205, entitled SYSTEMAND METHOD FOR ESTIMATING VISUAL IMPRESSIONS OF VEHICLES CONFIGURED WITHEXTERNAL GRAPHIC MESSAGING, filed Mar. 7, 2017 and issued Aug. 6, 2019,the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND

Businesses often attempt to increase consumer awareness by placingmessaging identifying or promoting products or services on mass transitvehicles (e.g., buses). Such messaging may also be conveyed byconfiguring the exteriors of a business' fleet or other vehicles withtext and/or graphics identifying the business and/or its products orservices. However, a business entity has no way of quantifying thevisual impressions of such messaging by potential consumers; that is,the business has no way of determining how many consumers actually viewthese messages.

Systems have been proposed for configuring vehicles with a messagingdevice (e.g., a display) capable of being updated with messages intendedfor viewing by occupants of other vehicles. In such systems the messagemay be changed more frequently when the system detects that the vehiclewith the messaging device is being slowed by traffic. However, suchsystems are unable to estimate how many other vehicles are capable ofviewing the messages.

U.S. Pat. No. 10,373,205, assigned to the assignee of the presentapplication, relates a system and method for estimating visualimpressions of vehicles configured with external graphic messaging.Consider that a vehicle moving along a path from one location toanother, or positioned in a certain location, will be visible tooccupants of other vehicles which have travelled the same path or areotherwise within the same vicinity. These vehicle occupants will be in aposition to receive visual impression of the vehicle's aestheticappearance (e.g., make, model, color, year, or vehiclemessaging/advertising). The '205 patent discloses a system and method ofattributing how many unique visual impressions a moving or non-movingvehicle receives for the purposes of, for example, advertising,marketing, or research.

SUMMARY

In one aspect the disclosure relates to a method for audience buildingfor use within an attribution determination system including a pluralityof vehicles having exteriors configured to convey messaging to occupantsof other vehicles. The method includes receiving communication signalsincluding information relating to time-stamped locations of theplurality of vehicles. The communication signals may be provided by usermobile devices disposed within the vehicles or by communication devicesintegrated with the plurality of vehicles. First time-stamped locationdata including a first plurality of the time-stamped locations is thenprovided to a mobile location data aggregator. The method furtherincludes receiving, from the mobile location data aggregator, a firstset of anonymized identifiers associated with mobile device users knownto be within a first plurality of exposure zones associated with thefirst plurality of time-stamped locations. Each of the first pluralityof exposure zones encompasses one of the first plurality of time-stampedlocations and is of a first area associated with a first radius. A firstset of interpolated locations between at least a subset of the firstplurality of time-stamped locations may then be created. The first setof interpolated locations are then provided to the mobile location dataaggregator. A second set of anonymized identifiers are received from themobile location data aggregator. The second set of anonymizedidentifiers are associated with mobile device users known to be withinthe first radius of any of the interpolated locations. The methodfurther includes aggregating the first set of anonymized identifiers andthe second set of anonymized identifiers in order to build a firstexposed audience. The first exposed audience corresponds to a union ofthe first set of anonymized identifiers and the second set of anonymizedidentifiers.

In another aspect the disclosure relates to a method for attributiondetermination in a system including a plurality of vehicles havingexteriors configured to convey messaging to occupants of other vehicles.The method includes receiving communication signals includinginformation relating to time-stamped locations of the plurality ofvehicles where the time-stamped locations correspond to a plurality ofexposure zones. The communication signals may be provided by user mobiledevices disposed within the vehicles or by communication devicesintegrated with the plurality of vehicles. The method also includesproviding, to a mobile location data aggregator, first time-stampedlocation data including a first plurality of the time-stamped locations.A first set of anonymized identifiers associated with mobile deviceusers known to be within a first plurality of exposure zones associatedwith the first plurality of time-stamped locations are then receivedfrom the mobile location data aggregator. Each of the first plurality ofexposure zones encompasses one of the first plurality of time-stampedlocations and is of a first area associated with a first radius wherethe mobile device users known to be within the first plurality ofexposure zones are included within a first exposed audience. A firstcontrol set of anonymized identifiers associated with users known tohave been within a first geo-fenced area but not within the firstplurality of exposure zones may then be received. The first control setof anonymized identifiers corresponds to a first control audience. Afirst record of conversion events may then be compiled. The conversionevents may include a first set of conversion events performed by thefirst exposed audience with respect to the messaging conveyed by a firstset of the plurality of vehicles and a second set of conversion eventsperformed by the first control audience. At least a first attributionmetric is then determined based upon the first set of conversion eventsand the second set of conversion events.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is more fully appreciated in connection with thefollowing Detailed Description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings. The skilled artisan will understand that thedrawings primarily are for illustrative purposes and are not intended tolimit the scope of the inventive subject matter described herein. Thedrawings are not necessarily to scale; in some instances, variousaspects of the inventive subject matter disclosed herein may be shownexaggerated or enlarged in the drawings to facilitate an understandingof different features. In the drawings, like reference charactersgenerally refer to like features (e.g., functionally similar and/orstructurally similar elements).

FIG. 1 provides an overview of a system for estimating visualimpressions of vehicles configured with external graphic messaging andan associated representation of quantifiable visual impressionsassociated with a vehicle in the system.

FIG. 2 illustrates visual impressions corresponding to visualization ofa target vehicle with exterior graphic messaging.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an exemplary workflow performed by a mobiledevice application in conjunction with a system platform.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of an exemplary platform impressions and scoringprocess capable of being implemented by the system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 provides an illustration of determination of a number of roadsegments traversed by a given vehicle.

FIG. 6 provides an overview of an attribution system for measuring anextent to which an advertising campaign involving vehicles configuredwith external graphic messaging influences conversion events relating toa product, service or other activity associated with the campaign.

FIG. 7 illustrates an urban environment in which the attribution systemof the present disclosure may be implemented to gauge the effectivenessof external graphic messaging displayed by vehicles.

FIG. 8 provides a street level view of an urban environment in which theattribution system of the present disclosure may be implemented to gaugethe effectiveness of external graphic messaging displayed by vehicles.

FIG. 9 is a focused, perspective view of a road segment associated witha single exposure zone which may be used in attribution determinationsin accordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process for building an exposedaudience for use in attribution determinations in accordance with thedisclosure.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart is provided of a process for determining at leastone attribution metric associated with advertising or other messagingexternally displayed by vehicles.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding componentsthroughout the several views of the drawings. Skilled artisans willappreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicityand clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example,the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggeratedrelative to other elements to help to improve understanding of variousembodiments of the present disclosure. Also, common but well-understoodelements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasibleembodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a lessobstructed view of these various embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

System for Estimating Visual Impressions of Vehicles Bearing ExternalMessaging

FIG. 1 provides an overview of a system 10 for estimating visualimpressions of vehicles configured with external graphic messaging andan associated representation of quantifiable visual impressionsassociated with a vehicle in the system. As shown, the system 10includes an impressions computation platform 11 capable of receivinginformation from a plurality of mobile device applications 136associated with a plurality of vehicles 13 (represented in FIG. 1 by asingle mobile device application and a single vehicle, respectively).

In one embodiment a removable canvas bearing graphic messaging isapplied to each of the vehicles 13. In this way a given vehicle may beconfigured to convey different messaging over different time periods(e.g., the messaging conveyed by the vehicle may be changed every fewmonths). In one embodiment the removable canvas comprises one or morefilm-based panels or segments configured to adhere to exterior surfacesof the vehicles 13. For example, the removable canvas may be in the formof a vinyl wrap or other media wrap/adhesive. Alternatively, one or moreof the vehicles 13 may be equipped with digital signage capable ofconveying the desired messaging.

The mobile device application 136 associated with each vehicle 13 isgenerally executed by a mobile communication device owned or controlledby an operator of the vehicle. In other embodiments the mobile deviceapplications 136 may be executed by mobile communication devicesintegrated within the vehicles 13. As shown, the system 10 furtherincludes a database 14 containing a segment mile table 108, a historicaltraffic volume table 109 a and/or a real-time traffic volume data 109 b.

During operation of the system of FIG. 1, one or both of historical andreal time vehicle traffic volume for a geographic location (latitude andlongitude) are used in producing a value representing the number ofvehicles within a “road segment” within a distance of point A to pointB. Utilizing a mobile device application 136 and tracking GPS latitudeand longitude, time of day, and speed, while in a vehicle as it travelsfrom point A to point B, the platform 11 may cross reference thattravelled path with the calculated number of vehicles in multiple roadsegments making up the path of point A to point B based on thehistorical and real time traffic volume. The result is a quantifiableamount of visual impressions received from people in vehicles travellingby the target vehicle within the travelled road segments.

A parked vehicle can also derive from the calculated road segment. Inparticular, an estimate is made of the number of vehicles that havetravelled past the parked vehicle and a number of visual impressionsreceived by the parked vehicle is derived from the estimate.

FIG. 2 illustrates visual impressions corresponding to visualization ofa target vehicle with exterior graphic messaging. In FIG. 2 people 100in other vehicles are visually able to see 101 vehicle A's exteriorgraphic messaging 102. The people are in other vehicles 100 driving onthe same road in either direction or freeway/highway. As discussedabove, the exterior graphic messaging of Vehicle A 102 can be in theform of car vinyl wrap or other media wrap/adhesive, or viewable digitalsignage.

Attention is now directed to FIG. 3, which is a flow chart of anexemplary workflow performed by a mobile device application inconjunction with a system platform. In the example of FIG. 3, mobiledevice 103 sends, to a platform API gateway 105 using a combination ofGPS and cellular or Wi-Fi Internet connectivity 104, GPS locationlatitude and longitude, speed, and time of day data for vehicle A every1/10 of a mile travelled in real time. If Internet connectivity becomesunavailable, the GPS data is stored on the mobile device application 136until Internet connectivity is re-established.

The API Gateway sends the data 106 to a database table 107 for storageand indexing of vehicle A location data. A segment mile database table108 exists via imported shape files converted into a segment mile table.The segment mile database table 108 is cross referenced 110 with thevehicle A GPS data 107 and with a traffic volume table 109 in order todetermine a number of cars and/or people are on the road for eachsegment driven 111. This in turn produces impressions per road segment112, which is stored in a database table for vehicle A 113. The storedimpressions information can be sent to any visualization system 114 andvisualized 115.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of an exemplary platform impressions and scoringprocess. As shown, the exemplary process begins with the mobile devicein vehicle A 115 sending GPS latitude and longitude, speed and time ofday data every 1/10 of a mile 116 via posting to an API 117, which inturn stores the data in a database table 118. Another database tableexists with segment mile data 122 derived from imported shape files(shp) correlating segment ID's with a certain mile distance. In order toimport the shape file into the database, it is typically necessary toparse out the shape file into a comma separated file (csv) so as toimport the data into the database. A separate database table holdstraffic volume information indexed by segment ID 123. By referencing thesegment mile table and the traffic volume data, a segmented trafficvolume 124 can be derived. Combining 126 vehicle A GPS data 119segmented traffic volume 125 and applying an environmental filter 121,an output is generated that is obtainable via an API 128 and thusretrievable 129 as a presentable set of impression data for vehicle A130.

FIG. 5 provides an illustration of determination of a number of roadsegments traversed by and associated with a given vehicle A. In theexample of FIG. 5, the road segments 131 132 and 133 each represent aroad segment of 15 minutes. Each road segment 131 132 and 133 is definedin a segment mile database table 122, which is indexed by road segmentID 122. As vehicle A travels through each road segment which, again, isa representation of 15 minutes of distance, a percentage 134 of segmentcompletion by vehicle A is tracked. Each road segment may be associatedwith a number of vehicles 135 corresponding to, for example, the numberof vehicles within the road segment at a given time. This number ofvehicles may be determined in accordance with historical traffic data123, real-time traffic data, or some combination thereof. In thespecific case of FIG. 5, 3 road segments 131 132 and 133 have beentraversed by vehicle A, where segments 131 and 132 have been 100%travelled and segment 133 has been 50% travelled. Segment 131 has 2vehicles, segment 132 has 1 vehicle and segment 133 has 2 vehicles.Based on this segment traffic, vehicle A has received impressions from 4vehicles. This assumes an exemplary approach in which estimates of thetotal number of vehicles capable of viewing vehicle A with each segmentare added. Each such estimate may be obtained, for example, by using thepercentage of each segment travelled by vehicle A in conjunction withhistorical data concerning the number of vehicles present within therelevant portions of the segment at the relevant times (i.e., the timesat which vehicle A was positioned within various parts of the segment).Of course, other approaches to estimating visual impressions within roadsegments may be used. For example, in some implementation it may besufficient to determine that a vehicle has simply been present within aroad segment in order for the vehicle to be accorded visual impressionscorresponding to some or all of the vehicles within the road segment.

The environmental filter 120 may take into consideration the distance avehicle can see vehicle A (e.g., 250 feet) and adjust the impressionvalue accordingly. For example, in the case of an estimated visibilityof 250 feet, those potential impressions associated with vehicles in thesegment more than 250 feet away from vehicle A are not counted indetermining the number of impressions for the segment. This filterednumber of impressions for the segment is then processed based on a scorefor vehicle A's miles that takes into account current speed as a ratioto free flow speed (traffic flow conditions) as well as time of day 104.

In some embodiments the environmental filter 120 may apply a formulabased on the traffic score to account for the reduced exchange of uniquevehicles which may occur during heavy to moderate traffic congestion, orduring night time driving (decreased visibility distance) even whentraffic is free flowing. In these embodiments a categorization scoringrange of 1-12 may be used, with 1 being a low score (e.g., light traffic(low speed) or poor visibility) to 12 being a high score (e.g., highertraffic (high speed) and good visibility). The result of the adjustments121 is an estimate of the number of unique vehicles capable of seeingthe target vehicle within the travelled distance.

Attribution System for Moving Out-of-Home Advertising

When an occupant of a vehicle or other observer views an advertisementon the exterior of another moving vehicle, the occupant or observer mayvisit a business associated with the advertisement or otherwise performan activity (e.g., visiting a website). Such visitation of the businessor performing of an activity in response to viewing an advertisement isgenerally known as a conversion. A conversion may correspond to purchaseof a product but may also involve other interactions with a business.The extent to which such conversions are attributable to advertisementson moving vehicles would be of interest to advertisers. However,existing systems are not configured to measure such attribution.

As is discussed below, the present attribution system is designed tobuild an exposed audience of users known to have been proximate trackedpaths of vehicles displaying external graphic messaging within ageo-fenced area. A control audience of users is developed by determiningusers known to have been within the geo-fenced area but not within adefined range of such tracked paths. A first set of conversion eventsperformed by the exposed audience with respect to a business or otherentity associated with the displayed messaging (e.g., advertising) isdetermined. Similarly, a second set of conversion events performed bythe control audience is also determined. At least one attribution metricbased upon the first set of conversion events and the second set ofconversion events may then be calculated.

FIG. 6 provides an overview of an attribution system 600 for measuringan extent to which an advertising campaign involving vehicles configuredwith external graphic messaging influences conversion events relating toa product, service or other activity associated with the campaign. Asshown, the system 600 includes an attribution computation platform 610capable of receiving information from a plurality of mobile deviceapplications 616 associated with a plurality of vehicles 618 configuredwith external graphic messaging (represented in FIG. 6 by a singlemobile device application and a single vehicle, respectively). Themobile device applications 616 may each be executed by, for example, amobile device 617 in the possession of a driver of the respectivevehicle 618. As is discussed below, the attribution computation platform610 is in communication with a mobile location data aggregator 620, anaudience data service provider 622 and a conversion data serviceprovider 624.

In one embodiment a removable canvas bearing graphic messaging isapplied to each of the vehicles 618. In this way a given vehicle may beconfigured to convey different messaging to occupants of other vehicles612 or other persons 614 over different time periods (e.g., themessaging conveyed by the vehicle may be changed every few months). Inone embodiment the removable canvas comprises one or more film-basedpanels or segments configured to adhere to exterior surfaces of thevehicles 618. For example, the removable canvas may be in the form of avinyl wrap or other media wrap/adhesive. Alternatively, one or more ofthe vehicles 618 may be equipped with digital signage capable ofconveying the desired messaging. In other embodiments “topper” signagemay be attached to the roof or other external surface of the vehicles618.

The mobile device application 616 associated with each vehicle 618 isgenerally executed by a mobile communication device owned or controlledby an operator of the vehicle 618. In other embodiments the mobiledevice applications 616 may be executed by mobile communication devicesintegrated within the vehicles 618. The vehicles 612 each include one ormore occupants, some of which may also possess mobile communicationdevices for which location information as a function of time may beavailable. Similarly, at least some of the persons 614 may also carrymobile communication devices for which time-stamped location informationcan be obtained.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6, the platform 610 and/or the mobile locationdata aggregator 620, audience data service provider 622 and conversiondata service provider 624 may be implemented using “cloud” computingcapabilities 630. As is known, cloud computing may be characterized as amodel for facilitating on-demand network access to a shared pool ofconfigurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage,applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and releasedwith minimal management effort or service provider interaction. Cloudsystems tend to automatically control resource use by utilizing someform of metering capability with respect to, for example, storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts. Various cloud servicemodels are possible, including cloud software as a service (SaaS), cloudplatform as a service (PaaS), and cloud infrastructure as a service(IaaS).

In other embodiments the platform 610 and/or the mobile location dataaggregator 620, audience data service provider 622, and conversion dataservice provider 624 may be implemented by using on-premise servers andother infrastructure rather than by using cloud-based services.Alternatively, hybrid implementations of the attribution computationplatform 610 including a combination of on-premise and cloud-basedinfrastructure are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

During operation of the system 600 of FIG. 6, mobile device application616 tracks GPS latitude and longitude and time of day while the vehicle618 is traveling or at rest. During this time the external graphicmessaging carried by the vehicle 618 may receive visual impressions fromthe occupants of the other vehicles 612 or the other persons 614 withinan exposure radius of the vehicle. Mobile device 617 sends, to a vehicletracking gateway and database 640 using a combination of GPS andcellular or Wi-Fi internet connectivity 644, GPS location latitude andlongitude data and time of day data for its associated vehicle 618. Inone embodiment this data is provided for every 1/10 of a mile travelledin real time. Measurements of vehicle speed may optionally also beprovided. If Internet connectivity becomes unavailable, the GPS data isstored on the mobile device application 616 until Internet connectivityis re-established.

Attention is now directed to FIG. 7, an illustration is provided of anurban environment 700 in which the attribution system of the presentdisclosure may be implemented to gauge the effectiveness of externalgraphic messaging (e.g., advertisements) displayed by vehicles 618. Asshown, a circular exposure zone 710 having an exposure radius (e.g., 50feet) surrounds each vehicle. As is discussed below, vehicles 612 a andpersons 614 a that come within an exposure zone 710 associated with aparticular external graphic message form an exposed audience 650 andvehicles 612 b and persons 614 b within a geofenced area that do notcome within an exposure zone 710 for that particular external graphicmessage form a control, or “not exposed”, audience 652. For clarity ofpresentation it is assumed that the same external graphic messaging isdisplayed by the vehicles 618 in FIG. 7, it being understood that ingeneral different vehicles 618 will be associated with differentcampaigns and display different external graphic messaging correspondingto each of the campaigns. It will be appreciated that, in general, whenthe vehicles 618 are outfitted to display external graphic messaging fordifferent campaigns, the exposed audience 650 and the control audience652 will be different for each such campaign. The size of the exposureradius is configurable and may vary depending upon, for example, thesize of the font used on the external graphic messaging carried by avehicle 618 (e.g., larger font sizes would be associated withcorrespondingly larger exposure radii).

In one embodiment each member of the exposed audience 650 and eachmember of the control audience 652 is identified by information such asa mobile advertising ID (“mobile ad ID”). An exemplary manner in whichthe platform 610 builds the exposed audience 650 and the controlaudience 652 in cooperation with the mobile location data aggregator 620and the audience data service provider 622 is described hereinafter

FIG. 8 provides a street level view of an urban environment 800 in whichthe attribution system of the present disclosure may be implemented togauge the effectiveness of external graphic messaging displayed byvehicles 618. As is indicated by FIG. 8, information 810 includinglatitude, longitude and a timestamp associated with exposure zones 811is captured by the mobile device application associated with eachvehicle 618 at regular intervals of distance travelled (e.g., every1/10^(th) of a mile). Each exposure zone 811 encompasses one of thetime-stamped locations included within the information 810 and is of anarea (e.g., a circular area) associated with a defined radius. In oneembodiment the defined radius is selected based upon a font size orother characteristic of the messaging displayed by the vehicles 618.

FIG. 9 is a focused, perspective view of a road segment associated witha single exposure zone which may be used in attribution determinationsin accordance with the disclosure. As shown, a vehicle 918 is configuredto display exterior graphic messaging 904 visible to at least one person914 within a exposure zone 920 associated with the vehicle 918. Theperson 914 is in possession of a mobile communication device 930 forwhich location information may be available and utilized in the mannerdescribed hereinafter. An additional vehicle 940 is also present withinthe exposure zone 920 and may include an occupant having a mobilecommunication device for which location information may also be obtainedand used as described herein.

Attention is now directed to FIG. 10, which is a flowchart illustratinga process 1000 for building an exposed audience for use in attributiondeterminations in accordance with the disclosure. The process 1000includes receiving time-stamped latitude/longitude positions fromvehicles displaying external graphic messaging within a geo-fenced area(stage 1004). A first set of anonymized identifiers associated withmobile device users (either pedestrians or occupants of other vehicles)known to be within a radius of any of the time-stampedlatitude/longitude positions is determined (stage 1008). An interpolatedset of latitude/longitude positions is created between the time-stampedlatitude/longitude positions (stage 1012). A second set of anonymizedidentifiers is determined where the second set of anonymized identifiersare associated with mobile device users known to be within a radius ofany of the interpolated latitude/longitude positions (stage 1016). Theprocess 1000 further includes building an exposed audience byaggregating the first set of anonymized identifiers and the second setof anonymized identifiers (stage 1020) in order to form the union of thefirst set of anonymized identifiers and the second set of anonymizedidentifiers. The exposed audience corresponds to a set of mobile deviceusers known to have been physically present at locations relatively near(i.e., within a distance of less than the radius) the vehiclesdisplaying external graphic messaging within the geo-fenced area.

With regard to stages 1008 and 1016, in one embodiment the first set ofanonymized identifiers and the second set of anonymized identifierscorrespond to mobile advertisement IDs (mobile ad IDs). Currently, thereexist two main types of mobile ad IDs. Apple devices utilize a mobile adID known as Identifier for Advertising (IDFA) and devices based uponGoogle's Android operating system use a mobile ad ID known as the GoogleAdvertising ID (AAID). The mobile location data aggregator 620, whichmay be a third-party service, maintains a database of mobile ad IDs as afunction of location and time. Accordingly, by providing thetime-stamped location data received by the vehicle tracking gateway 640to an API of the mobile location data aggregator 620, mobile ad IDs ofmobile devices present within the exposure zones associated with thevehicles 618 are returned to the attribution computation platform 610.

With regard to stage 1012, when a given vehicle 618 is traveling at areasonable speed (e.g., is not in heavy traffic) and the vehicleprovides time-stamped location data for approximately every 1/10^(th) ofa mile of one or more road segments traversed by the vehicle 618, thisinformation should generally be sufficient to obtain mobile ad IDs foressentially all mobile devices capable of viewing the vehicle 618 duringits traversal of the road segments. However, in cases in which a vehicleis traveling very slowly (e.g., is in heavy traffic), it may benecessary to generate a set of interpolated time-stamped location dataand also provide this to the API of the mobile location data aggregator620 in order to obtain mobile ad IDs for essentially all mobile devicespositioned to view the vehicle 618 while it is traveling. This isbecause when the vehicle 618 is traveling slowly a relatively largeamount of time may elapse between consecutive time-stamped locations ifsuch locations are spaced by approximately 1/10^(th) of a mile. As aresult, mobile devices within other vehicles may come within theexposure radius of the vehicle 618 during the time it is traversingbetween successive time-stamped reporting locations separated by1/10^(th) of a mile but may not be within the exposure radius at thetimes when the vehicle 618 records its location (i.e., generatestime-stamped location data for provision to the vehicle tracking gateway640 either in real time or in a batch process). Under these conditionsthe data aggregator 620 may not return the mobile ad IDs correspondingto the mobile devices within these other vehicles; that is, the exposedaudience associated with a particular vehicle 619 could be undercounted.In order to remedy this situation the platform 610 could, when thetime-stamped location data received from a vehicle 618 indicates thatthe vehicle 618 is traveling slowly (e.g., below a defined speed such as15 MPH), create an interpolated set of time-stamped location data inwhich one or more interpolated time-stamped locations are createdbetween each time-stamped location reported by the vehicle 618. As asimple example, if one interpolated time-stamped location were to becreated roughly halfway between each reported time-stamped location,then the combined reported and interpolated time-stamped location dataprovided to the mobile location data aggregator 620 would be comprisedof time-stamped locations separated by approximately 1/20^(th) of a mile(assuming the reported time-stamped locations were separated byapproximately 1/10^(th) of a mile).

Turning now to FIG. 11, a flowchart is provided of a process 1100 fordetermining at least one attribution metric associated with advertisingor other messaging externally displayed by vehicles 618. As is discussedin further detail below, the process 1100 includes receiving, from aplurality of vehicles 618, communication signals including informationrelating to a set of time-stamped latitude/longitude positions of theplurality of vehicles within a geo-fenced area (stage 1102). The process1100 further includes building an exposed audience by aggregating (i) afirst set of anonymized identifiers associated with users known to havebeen proximate the set of time-stamped latitude/longitude positionsreceived from the vehicles 618 and (ii) a second set of anonymizedidentifiers associated with users known to have been proximateinterpolated time-stamped latitude/longitude positions derived from thetime-stamped latitude/longitude data points (stage 1104). The geo-fencedarea may comprise, for example, a portion of a city or county, or ageographic region bounded by roadways and/or natural features.

With regard to stage 1104, in one embodiment the first set of anonymizedidentifiers and the second set of anonymized identifiers correspond toan aggregated set of mobile ad IDs provided by the mobile location dataaggregator 620. This aggregated set of mobile ad IDs may then beprovided by the platform 610 to the audience data service provider 622.In one embodiment the audience data service provider 622 maps eachmobile ad ID within the aggregated set of mobile ad IDs to a particularhousehold. Any other mobile ad IDs associated with the householdsidentified through this process are then added to the aggregated set ofmobile ad IDs in the exposed audience 650 in order to form an augmentedexposed audience (stage 1106). This may be done to ensure that theconversion events 660 associated with a particular advertisementdisplayed by one or more vehicles 618 appropriately reflect theinfluence of the displayed advertisement on subsequent consumerbehavior. For example, consider the case in which a commuter having amobile device associated with a particular mobile ad ID views adisplayed advertisement on a vehicle 618 during the commuter's eveningcommute. Upon arriving at home, the commuter may make a purchase of aproduct or take some other action related to the advertisement using adevice having a different mobile ad ID or may cause a family member todo so using another device. In either case, unless the mobile ad IDsassociated with the other devices in the commuter's household areincluded within the set of mobile ad IDs used to measure attribution,the conversion events 660 will not reflect the influence of theadvertisement on the product purchase or other actions taken at thecommuter's household.

The process 1100 further includes building a control audience bydetermining a control set of anonymized identifiers known to have beenwithin the geo-fenced area but not within defined areas proximate any ofthe set of time-stamped latitude/longitude positions or the interpolatedtime-stamped latitude/longitude positions (stage 1108). In oneembodiment the platform 610 facilitates building the control audience byproviding the set reported and interpolated latitude/longitude positionsto the audience data service provider 622. In turn, the service provider622 typically acquires (from one or more third party services) themobile ad IDs which were within a defined geo-fenced area but not withinthe exposure radius of the vehicle 618 of interest during the timeduration spanned by the time-stamped latitude/longitude data.

The process 1100 also includes compiling conversion events 660 includinga first set of conversion events 660 a performed by the augmentedexposed audience with respect to an advertisement externally displayedby a vehicle 618 and a second set of conversion events 660 b performedby the control audience (stage 1112). These conversion events 660 mayrelate to, for example, a purchase of a product or service associatedwith the advertisement, a physical visit to a merchant associated withthe product or service, or navigation to a website corresponding to theproduct or service. Information relating to the conversion events 660may be provided to the platform 610 by, for example, monitoring activityon a website or a mobile application (“app”) operated by a customer ofan entity operating the attribution system 600 (e.g., a company that hascontracted to advertise a product using the vehicles 618). For example,data relating to the conversion events 660 could include a list ofmobile ad IDs associated with electronic devices used to (i) navigate toa landing page of a website identified by a URL included within theadvertisement, or (ii) perform one or more actions within a mobile appoperated by a company responsible for running the advertisement. Inaddition, data relating to the conversion events 660 could include arecord of customer “foot traffic” at a particular physical location(e.g., particular retail locations). Information relating to theconversion events 660 could also be provided by the conversion dataservice provider 624.

At least one attribution metric based upon the first set of conversionevents 660 a and the second set of conversion events 660 b may then bedetermined (stage 1116). For example, an attribution metric termedoffline to online attribution may be determined. In this case, theconversion events 660 a performed by the exposed audience and theconversion events 660 b performed by the control audience correspond tofiring a pixel on (or otherwise interacting with) a particular page of awebsite. For example, the page could comprise a “shopping cart” or“checkout” page of a website operated by the entity running theadvertisement. The attribution metric in this case may correspond to thepercentage of the exposed audience firing the website pixel relative tothe percentage of the control audience firing the pixel.

In the case of a mobile app, the conversion events 660 a performed bythe exposed audience and the conversion events 660 b performed by thecontrol audience correspond to interaction with the mobile app. In oneembodiment a measurement tool is used to monitor such interaction. Suchtools (e.g., Kochava or AppsFlyer) enable monitoring of events occurringwithin the app on a particular mobile device. This permits an advertiserutilizing the system 600 to specify that particular events (e.g., “newuser created”) be monitored for both the exposed and control audiences.Thus, an attribution metric relating to the ratio of new users of theapp from the exposed audience relative to new users of the app from thecontrol audience may be determined using the conversion events 660 a and660 b relating to such creation of new users.

Attribution based upon retail foot traffic may involve, for example,determining the percentage of the exposed audience that visits aparticular location relative to the percentage of a control audiencethat visits the location within some time period following display of anadvertisement by vehicles 618. For example, consider an advertisementdisplayed by vehicles 618 which promotes a particular professionalsports team. In this case the conversion events 660 a and 660 b mayrelate to the physical presence of members of the exposed audience andthe control audience, respectively, at a venue (e.g., a stadium orarena) associated with the sports team. The physical presence of membersof the exposed and control audiences at the venue may be determined by,for example, using data provided by the mobile location data aggregator620.

In one embodiment each attribution metric determined by the platform 610may utilized a “look back” window of a defined period of time (e.g., 30days) to ensure that the conversion events 660 a and 660 b represent thefirst time that a member of the exposed or control audiences hasinteracted with the relevant website or mobile app or visited therelevant physical location. This prevents “double counting” ofindividuals previously utilizing the relevant website or mobile app orwhich have previously visited the relevant physical location.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. Where methods described above indicate certain eventsoccurring in certain order, the ordering of certain events may bemodified. Additionally, certain of the events may be performedconcurrently in a parallel process when possible, as well as performedsequentially as described above. Although various modules in thedifferent devices are shown to be located in the processors of thedevice, they can also be located/stored in the memory of the device(e.g., software modules) and can be accessed and executed by theprocessors. Accordingly, the specification is intended to embrace allsuch modifications and variations of the disclosed embodiments that fallwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

The various methods or processes outlined herein may be coded assoftware that is executable on one or more processors that employ anyone of a variety of operating systems or platforms. Additionally, suchsoftware may be written using any of a number of suitable programminglanguages and/or programming or scripting tools, and also may becompiled as executable machine language code or intermediate code thatis executed on a framework or virtual machine.

In this respect, various inventive concepts may be embodied as acomputer readable storage medium (or multiple computer readable storagemedia) (e.g., a computer memory, one or more floppy discs, compactdiscs, optical discs, magnetic tapes, flash memories, circuitconfigurations in Field Programmable Gate Arrays or other semiconductordevices, or other non-transitory medium or tangible computer storagemedium) encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one ormore computers or other processors, perform methods that implement thevarious embodiments of the disclosure discussed above. The computerreadable medium or media can be transportable, such that the program orprograms stored thereon can be loaded into one or more differentcomputers or other processors to implement various aspects of thepresent disclosure as discussed above.

The terms “program” or “software” or “code” are used herein in a genericsense to refer to any type of computer code or set ofcomputer-executable instructions that can be employed to program acomputer or other processor to implement various aspects of embodimentsas discussed above. Additionally, it should be appreciated thataccording to one aspect, one or more computer programs that whenexecuted perform methods of the present disclosure need not reside on asingle computer or processor, but may be distributed in a modularfashion amongst a number of different computers or processors toimplement various aspects of the present disclosure.

Computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, such as programmodules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally,program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, datastructures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Typically, the functionality of the program modulesmay be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.

Also, data structures may be stored in computer-readable media in anysuitable form. For simplicity of illustration, data structures may beshown to have fields that are related through location in the datastructure. Such relationships may likewise be achieved by assigningstorage for the fields with locations in a computer-readable medium thatconvey relationship between the fields. However, any suitable mechanismmay be used to establish a relationship between information in fields ofa data structure, including through the use of pointers, tags or othermechanisms that establish relationship between data elements.

Also, various inventive concepts may be embodied as one or more methods,of which an example has been provided. The acts performed as part of themethod may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments maybe constructed in which acts are performed in an order different thanillustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, eventhough shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments.

All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood tocontrol over dictionary definitions, definitions in documentsincorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the definedterms.

The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in thespecification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to thecontrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in theclaims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements soconjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some casesand disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with“and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” ofthe elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be presentother than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause,whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when usedin conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer,in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other thanB); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionallyincluding other elements); etc.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should beunderstood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. Forexample, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall beinterpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, butalso including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and,optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated tothe contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when usedin the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactlyone element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or”as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusivealternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded byterms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or“exactly one of.” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims,shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “atleast one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should beunderstood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more ofthe elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including atleast one of each and every element specifically listed within the listof elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the listof elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally bepresent other than the elements specifically identified within the listof elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether relatedor unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as anon-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “atleast one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) canrefer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including morethan one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements otherthan B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally includingmore than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionallyincluding more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including morethan one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitionalphrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,”“containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are tobe understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limitedto. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consistingessentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases,respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual ofPatent Examining Procedures, Section 2111.03.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for audience building for use within anattribution determination system including a plurality of vehicleshaving exteriors configured to convey messaging to occupants of othervehicles, the method comprising: receiving, at a vehicle trackinggateway, communication signals including information relating totime-stamped locations of the plurality of vehicles wherein thecommunication signals are provided by at least one of mobile devicesdisposed within the plurality of vehicles and communication devicesintegrated with the plurality of vehicles; providing, to an applicationprogramming interface (API) of a mobile location data aggregator, firsttime-stamped location data including a first plurality of thetime-stamped locations; receiving, from the mobile location dataaggregator, a first set of anonymized identifiers associated with mobiledevice users known to be within a first plurality of exposure zonesassociated with the first plurality of time-stamped locations whereineach of the first plurality of exposure zones encompasses one of thefirst plurality of time-stamped locations and is of a first areaassociated with a first radius; creating a first set of interpolatedlocations between at least a subset of the first plurality oftime-stamped locations; providing, to the API of the mobile locationdata aggregator, the first set of interpolated locations; receiving,from the mobile location data aggregator, a second set of anonymizedidentifiers where the second set of anonymized identifiers areassociated with mobile device users known to be within the first radiusof ones of the first set of interpolated locations; aggregating thefirst set of anonymized identifiers and the second set of anonymizedidentifiers in order to build a first exposed audience wherein the firstexposed audience corresponds to a union of the first set of anonymizedidentifiers and the second set of anonymized identifiers.
 2. The methodof claim 1 wherein the first radius is selected based at least in partupon a first font size associated with at least a part of the messagingon the exteriors of a first set of the plurality of vehicles.
 3. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the first plurality of time-stamped locationsare included within the communication signals associated with a firstset of the plurality of vehicles and wherein at least a part of themessaging on the exteriors of the first set of the plurality of vehiclesis of a first font size, the first radius being selected based at leastin part upon the first font size.
 4. The method of claim 3, furtherincluding: providing, to the API of the mobile location data aggregator,second time-stamped location data including a second plurality of thetime-stamped locations; receiving, from the mobile location dataaggregator, a third set of anonymized identifiers associated with mobiledevice users known to be within a second radius of ones of the secondplurality of time-stamped locations wherein the second plurality oftime-stamped locations are included within the communication signalsassociated with a second set of the plurality of vehicles and wherein atleast a part of the messaging on the exteriors of the second set of theplurality of vehicles is of a second font size different from the firstfont size, the second radius being selected based at least in part uponthe second font size wherein the second radius is different from thefirst radius.
 5. The method of claim 4, further including: creating asecond set of interpolated locations between the second plurality oftime-stamped locations; providing, to the API of the mobile locationdata aggregator, the second set of interpolated locations; receiving,from the mobile location data aggregator, a fourth set of anonymizedidentifiers where the fourth set of anonymized identifiers areassociated with mobile device users known to be within the second radiusof ones of the second set of interpolated locations; aggregating thethird set of anonymized identifiers and the fourth set of anonymizedidentifiers in order to build a second exposed audience wherein thesecond exposed audience corresponds to a union of the third set ofanonymized identifiers and the fourth set of anonymized identifiers. 6.The method of claim 1 further including making a determination, basedupon the first time-stamped location data, that the subset of the firstplurality of time-stamped locations are associated with one or morevehicles traveling below a defined speed wherein the first set ofinterpolated locations are created in response to the determination. 7.A method for attribution determination in a system including a pluralityof vehicles having exteriors configured to convey messaging to occupantsof other vehicles, the method comprising: receiving, at a vehicletracking gateway, communication signals including information relatingto time-stamped locations of the plurality of vehicles, the time-stampedlocations corresponding to a plurality of exposure zones wherein thecommunication signals are provided by at least one of mobile devicesdisposed within the plurality of vehicles and communication devicesintegrated with the plurality of vehicles; providing, to an applicationprogramming interface (API) of a mobile location data aggregator, firsttime-stamped location data including a first plurality of thetime-stamped locations; receiving, from the mobile location dataaggregator, a first set of anonymized identifiers associated with mobiledevice users known to be within a first plurality of exposure zonesassociated with the first plurality of time-stamped locations whereineach of the first plurality of exposure zones encompasses one of thefirst plurality of time-stamped locations and is of a first areaassociated with a first radius and wherein the mobile device users knownto be within the first plurality of exposure zones are included within afirst exposed audience; receiving a first control set of anonymizedidentifiers associated with users known to have been within a firstgeo-fenced area but not within the first plurality of exposure zones,the first control set of anonymized identifiers corresponding to a firstcontrol audience; compiling a first record of conversion events whereinthe conversion events include a first set of conversion events performedby the first exposed audience with respect to the messaging conveyed bya first set of the plurality of vehicles and a second set of conversionevents performed by the first control audience; and determining at leasta first attribution metric based upon the first set of conversion eventsand the second set of conversion events.
 8. The method of claim 7,further including: creating a first set of interpolated locationsbetween at least a subset of the first plurality of time-stampedlocations; providing, to the API of the mobile location data aggregator,the first set of interpolated locations; receiving, from the mobilelocation data aggregator, a second set of anonymized identifiersassociated with mobile device users known to be within a secondplurality of exposure zones associated with the first set ofinterpolated locations wherein each of second plurality of exposurezones encompasses one location of the first set of interpolatedlocations and is of the first area and wherein the mobile device usersknown to be within the second plurality of exposure zones are alsoincluded within the first exposed audience; wherein the building thefirst control audience further includes determining a second control setof anonymized identifiers associated with users known to have beenwithin the first geo-fenced area but not within the second plurality ofexposure zones.
 9. The method of claim 7 wherein the first radius isselected based at least in part upon a first font size associated withat least a part of the messaging on the exteriors of a first set of theplurality of vehicles.
 10. The method of claim 7 wherein the firstplurality of time-stamped locations are included within thecommunication signals associated with a first set of the plurality ofvehicles and wherein at least a part of the messaging on the exteriorsof the first set of the plurality of vehicles is of a first font size,the first radius being selected based at least in part upon the firstfont size.
 11. The method of claim 10, further including: providing, tothe API of the mobile location data aggregator, second time-stampedlocation data including a second plurality of the time-stampedlocations; receiving, from the mobile location data aggregator, a secondset of anonymized identifiers associated with a second exposed audiencecomprised of mobile device users known to be within a second pluralityof exposure zones associated with the second plurality of time-stampedlocations wherein the second plurality of time-stamped locations areincluded within the communication signals associated with a second setof the plurality of vehicles and wherein at least a part of themessaging on the exteriors of the second set of the plurality ofvehicles is of a second font size different from the first font size,the second radius being selected based at least in part upon the secondfont size wherein the second radius is different from the first radius;building a second control audience by determining a second control setof anonymized identifiers associated with users known to have beenwithin a second geo-fenced area but not within the second plurality ofexposure zones; compiling a second record of conversion events whereinthe conversion events include a second set of conversion eventsperformed by the second exposed audience with respect to the messagingconveyed by a second set of the plurality of vehicles and a third set ofconversion events performed by the second control audience; anddetermining a second attribution metric based upon the second set ofconversion events and the second set of conversion events.
 12. Themethod of claim 7 wherein the messaging includes an advertisement andwherein the first set of conversion events relate to at least one of apurchase of a product or service associated with the advertisement, aphysical visit to a merchant associated with the product or service, andnavigation to a website corresponding to the product or service.
 13. Anattribution computation platform for use in a system including aplurality of vehicles having exteriors configured to convey messaging tooccupants of other vehicles, the attribution platform comprising: one ormore processors; a communication interface; and a memory includinginstructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causethe one or more processors to: receive communication signals includinginformation relating to time-stamped locations of the plurality ofvehicles, the time-stamped locations corresponding to a plurality ofexposure zones wherein the communication signals are provided by atleast one of mobile devices disposed within the plurality of vehiclesand communication devices integrated with the plurality of vehicles;provide, to an application programming interface (API) of a mobilelocation data aggregator, first time-stamped location data including afirst plurality of the time-stamped locations; receive, from the mobilelocation data aggregator, a first set of anonymized identifiersassociated with mobile device users known to be within a first pluralityof exposure zones associated with the first plurality of time-stampedlocations wherein each of the first plurality of exposure zonesencompasses one of the first plurality of time-stamped locations and isof a first area associated with a first radius and wherein the mobiledevice users known to be within the first plurality of exposure zonesare included within a first exposed audience; receive a first controlset of anonymized identifiers associated with users known to have beenwithin a first geo-fenced area but not within the first plurality ofexposure zones, the first control set of anonymized identifierscorresponding to a first control audience; compile a first record ofconversion events wherein the conversion events include a first set ofconversion events performed by the first exposed audience with respectto the messaging conveyed by a first set of the plurality of vehiclesand a second set of conversion events performed by the first controlaudience; and determining at least a first attribution metric based uponthe first set of conversion events and the second set of conversionevents.